Local first storage for lawyers
A local first notes app that works offline
Work with no wifi and no worry.
Grape keeps a matter file in a database on your own machine, so the day before a hearing a dead connection changes nothing about what you can open.
Writing, reading, organising, drawing and recording all work offline
You pick where the database file sits
Export any note, or the whole library, as Markdown, HTML or PDF
Run the AI locally through Ollama or LM Studio if you prefer
No account to start
Download, open, write. Accounts only matter for the paid plans.
Your choice of AI provider
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, Ollama and more.
Export whenever you want
Markdown, HTML or PDF, one note at a time or the whole library.
You pick where the file sits
Point the database at any folder on your machine, and move it later.
The plane, the tunnel, the cabin
Writing, search, drawing and recording all work with no connection.
Local models if you want them
Run the AI through Ollama or LM Studio and nothing leaves the machine.
Summary
Three matters this resolves
Set out plainly, without claims the app cannot support. What changes when the file can be questioned.
1.
Finding one point means rereading the whole file.
Find the point without rereading the file
Search by the issue rather than the document name and get the note that covers it.
2.
The attendance note is written from memory, an hour after the call.
Attendance notes written from the call
Record where you are permitted to, and work from an accurate transcript instead of memory.
3.
The research is in one place, the reasoning in another, the extract in a third.
Keep research and reasoning together
PDFs, extracts and your own analysis live in the same note, in the same matter folder.
A matter
What that looks like for lawyers
Three points in a matter where the tool earns its place.
01
New matter
One folder, one chronology note, and everything else linked to it.
02
Research
Keep the PDF and your extract in the same note so the reasoning survives.
03
Before a hearing
Ask your notes for the chronology and the open points.
The rest of the app
What Else Grape Does
Every part of the app is built around the same idea: keep what you write, and hand it back when you need it.
Questions
Questions Before You Install It
The rest of them live in the help center.
- Is Grape suitable for privileged material?
- Grape stores notes locally by default and sync is opt in, but it is a general note app, not a legal practice system. It makes no certification claims, so check it against your firm policy and your regulator before putting client confidential material in it.
- Can I stop content going to an AI provider?
- Yes. AI features are optional. If you use them, you can bring your own key with a provider your firm approves, or run a local model through Ollama or LM Studio.
- What is Grape, in one paragraph?
- Grape is a note app for Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android with AI built into the middle of it rather than bolted on the side. You write, record and collect things the normal way, and then you can search by meaning, ask questions about your own notes, and turn any note into a summary, a set of flashcards, a quiz or a mind map.
- What makes it different from other note apps?
- Most note apps treat AI as an extra panel. In Grape the agent works on your workspace: it can read, create, edit, move, tag and delete notes, and every answer points back to the note it came from. Semantic search, voice transcription, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and the drawing canvas all live inside the editor rather than in separate tools.
- Where do my notes actually live?
- On your device, in a local database, and you can choose where that file sits. Nothing needs to leave your machine for the app to work. If you turn on sync with a Sync or Pro plan, your notes are also stored in the cloud so your devices can stay in step. On Lifetime they sync through your own Dropbox or Google Drive instead, and Grape never sees them.
- Do I need an account to use it?
- No. Download the app and start writing. You only need an account for the paid plans, which is where cross device sync and built in AI come in.
Search it how you remember.
Attendance notes, research, correspondence summaries and the point you spotted at 6pm, in a local library that answers questions about your own file.